How Much Does Medicare Cost in 2026? Premiums & More

Most people pay $202.90 a month for Medicare Part B in 2026, and that premium is only the starting point. Medicare is not one bill. It is a stack of premiums, deductibles, and coinsurance spread across Part A, Part B, Part D, and the private plans many people add on top. So how much does Medicare cost in 2026? This guide pulls every figure into one place, part by part, and explains what each number actually means, so you can budget with no surprises.1

How much does Medicare cost? The short answer

There is no single price tag for Medicare, because what you pay depends on which parts you have, how much you worked, and how much income you report. But the foundation is the same for most people: a monthly Part B premium, plus deductibles and coinsurance you pay only when you use care.

Most people get Part A for free, then pay a monthly Part B premium of $202.90 in 2026. From there, your total cost rises or falls based on the prescription drug coverage, supplemental coverage, and any high-income surcharges that apply to you.1

Part A: hospital coverage

Part A covers inpatient hospital stays, skilled nursing facility care, hospice, and some home health care.

For most people, Part A has no monthly premium. About 99% of beneficiaries qualify for premium-free Part A because they (or a spouse) paid Medicare taxes for at least 40 quarters, which is 10 years of work. If you worked 30 to 39 quarters, the Part A premium is $311 a month in 2026. That reduced rate also goes to someone who was married to a person with at least 30 quarters of coverage, so check both records before you assume a short work history of your own puts you in the higher band. With fewer than 30 quarters and no spouse's record to lean on, it is $565 a month.1

Premium-free does not mean cost-free. When you are admitted as an inpatient, Part A charges a deductible of $1,736 per benefit period in 2026. A benefit period begins the day you are admitted to a hospital or skilled nursing facility as an inpatient and ends once you have gone 60 consecutive days without inpatient hospital care or skilled care in a nursing facility, whether or not you have left the building. Because that clock resets, you can owe the deductible more than once in a single calendar year if you have separate stays.1

For longer hospital stays, coinsurance is added on top of the deductible:

• Days 1 to 60: $0 (covered after the deductible).
• Days 61 to 90: $434 a day in 2026.
• Days 91 and beyond: $868 a day for each "lifetime reserve day." You get 60 of these reserve days over your lifetime, and once they are used up, you pay the full cost.1

Skilled nursing facility care has its own schedule after a qualifying 3-day inpatient hospital stay. Days 1 to 20 are $0 each day after you pay the $1,736 Part A deductible, and if you already paid that deductible for a hospital stay in the same benefit period, you do not pay it a second time for the nursing facility. Days 21 to 100 cost $217 a day in 2026. From day 101 on, you pay the full cost. Watch the word inpatient: time spent under observation or in the emergency room before you are formally admitted does not count toward those 3 days. The 3-day minimum can be waived, though, if your doctor takes part in an Accountable Care Organization approved for a Skilled Nursing Facility 3-Day Rule Waiver, or if you are in a Medicare Advantage plan that waives it. And if you were admitted as an inpatient and the hospital then changed your status to "outpatient getting observation services," that change can be appealed, though the window to file a new appeal over a past stay ended January 2, 2026 and a later request is denied without good cause for filing late.1

Part B: doctor and outpatient coverage

Part B covers doctor visits, outpatient care, preventive services, lab work, and durable medical equipment.

The standard Part B premium is $202.90 a month in 2026, up from $185.00 in 2025. Most people pay this standard amount, and it is usually deducted directly from a Social Security check.1

Before Part B starts paying, you meet an annual deductible of $283 in 2026. After that, you generally pay 20% of the Medicare-approved amount for most covered services, and Medicare pays the rest. There is no annual cap on that 20% under Original Medicare, which is one reason many people add supplemental coverage (more on that below).1

Part C: Medicare Advantage

Medicare Advantage (Part C) is an alternative to Original Medicare offered by private insurers. These plans bundle Part A and Part B coverage, and most include drug coverage too.

If you choose Medicare Advantage, you still pay the Part B premium of $202.90 a month. Many plans charge little or no additional premium of their own; the average Medicare Advantage plan premium for 2026 is projected at about $14 a month, and many plans offer a $0 plan premium. Some plans go further and may help pay part or all of your Part B premium.2 In exchange for following the plan's network and rules, Advantage plans cap what you spend out of pocket each year on Part A and Part B services. For 2026, that in-network maximum is federally capped at $9,250, and individual plans may set a lower limit. Read that cap narrowly: it applies to Part A and Part B cost sharing only, so what you spend on prescription drugs through the plan's Part D benefit does not count toward it. And a plan that also covers out-of-network care, such as a PPO, sets two annual limits, the second one higher and covering in-network and out-of-network costs combined. Original Medicare has no such cap: CMS says there is no yearly limit on what you pay out of pocket unless you have supplemental coverage such as Medigap, Medicaid, employer, retiree, or union coverage.1,2 See our Original Medicare vs. Medicare Advantage guide to compare the two paths.

Part D: prescription drug coverage

Part D covers prescription drugs and is sold by private insurance carriers, so the price depends on the plan you pick.

The average standalone Part D premium for 2026 is projected at roughly $34.50 a month, though actual premiums vary widely by plan. Each plan sets its own deductible, copays, and covered drug list, so the right comparison is between specific plans, not against the average.1 Our Part D guide walks through how to read those plan details.

Medigap: Medicare Supplement insurance

Medigap, or Medicare Supplement insurance, is private coverage that helps pay the deductibles and coinsurance Original Medicare leaves to you. It works only with Original Medicare, not Medicare Advantage.

Medigap is sold as lettered plans (A-D, F, G, and K-N everywhere except Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Wisconsin).3 Medicare says a Medigap premium varies based on which policy you buy, where you live, and other factors, and that the amount can change each year, so there is no single national price.1 Two of those letters are not open to everyone: Plans C and F, the two that cover the Part B deductible, are closed to anyone first eligible for Medicare on or after January 1, 2020. If that is you, Plans D and G are the substitutes still on sale, and Plan G gives the same benefits as Plan F except that it does not cover the Part B deductible.3 For many people a Medigap policy is one of the larger monthly Medicare line items after the Part B premium. Because the benefits within each plan letter are standardized by federal law, two Plan G policies cover the same things; the difference is mostly price and the carrier behind them.3 Our Medigap guide explains how the plan letters compare and what shapes the premium.

Here is how the core 2026 figures line up across the parts.1

When high income raises your bill: IRMAA

If your income is above certain thresholds, you pay more for Part B and Part D through a surcharge called the Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount, or IRMAA.

IRMAA for 2026 is based on the income you reported on your 2024 tax return, a two-year lag. The surcharge starts when modified adjusted gross income is above $109,000 for a single filer or $218,000 for a joint filer. It is a five-tier sliding scale: with IRMAA added, the total monthly Part B premium ranges from the standard $202.90 (no surcharge) up to $689.90 at the top tier, which applies at $500,000 or more for a single filer and $750,000 or more for a joint filer. Part D carries a parallel IRMAA surcharge on the same income brackets, ranging from $14.50 to $91.00 a month on top of your plan premium.1

One group sits outside that five-tier scale entirely. If you are married, file separately, and lived with your spouse at any time during the year, you are placed on a three-row schedule instead: 2024 MAGI at or below $109,000 leaves you at the standard $202.90, anything above $109,000 jumps straight to a total Part B premium of $649.20 a month, and $391,000 or more puts you at $689.90. There is no gradual climb in between, so a separately filing spouse just over the first line pays far more than a joint filer at the same income.1 Our IRMAA guide details every bracket.

How to lower your Medicare costs

Some costs are fixed, but several programs can reduce what lower-income beneficiaries pay.

Medicare Savings Programs can pay your Part B premium, and in some cases your deductibles and coinsurance, for people under set income and resource limits. For 2026, the federal resource limits for these programs are $9,950 for an individual and $14,910 for a couple, and those are standards rather than absolute cutoffs: states can effectively raise both the income and the resource limits by disregarding certain income and resources, so apply rather than rule yourself out. Extra Help, the Part D Low-Income Subsidy, lowers prescription drug costs and uses separate, higher resource limits of $16,590 for an individual and $33,100 for a couple (or $18,090 and $36,100 with a burial set-aside).1 If your income is low, start with our Medicare Savings Programs and Extra Help guides. If your income is high enough to trigger IRMAA, the IRMAA guide explains how to appeal a surcharge after a life-changing event.

Learn More

To map your own 2026 Medicare budget and find programs that could lower it, get personalized help at brevy.com.

The information on Brevy.com is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal, financial, or medical advice. Rules vary by state and program and change frequently. Always verify with the relevant agency or a qualified professional. Brevy is not a law firm, financial advisor, or healthcare provider.